Larry Pratt, the longtime leader of the right-of-the-NRA Gun Owners of America, who is now the group’s executive director emeritus, suggested in a radio interview last week that Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, who has since become an outspoken proponent of gun law reform, was an actor, saying that “little twerp” Hogg is “right out of central casting, in fact he may be.”
Pratt appeared on an April 24 episode of former Missouri Republican state representative Cynthia Davis’ podcast “Home Front with Cynthia Davis.”
Davis asked Pratt about his thoughts on Hogg, falsely asserting that “he wasn’t even there when the tragedy occurred,” a reference to conspiracy theories stemming from an out-of-context quote from Hogg in a CBS documentary.
“According to what he said himself, he was either in a classroom in another building, away from the shooter, or he got on his bicycle and rode to school when he heard there was a shooting going on, so he can’t even tell the same story about what he was doing in the same rather memorable time frame,” Pratt claimed.
“I can tell you exactly what I was doing and where I was when I heard on the radio that the World Trade Center had actually collapsed because of the plane that hit it,” he continued. “I’ll never forget that, I know exactly where I was, and this little twerp can’t even remember what he was doing at that rather equivalent moment in his life? I don’t think this guy could tell the truth if he had a gun at his head.”
“And he’s called a survivor, a Parkland survivor, which isn’t an accurate word either,” Davis said. “Unless you were shot at, I don’t know if that fits, being called a survivor.”
“I think you’re right,” Pratt responded, “it’s just for the dramatic effect. The media is having a field day, this guy’s right out of central casting, in fact he may be. Who knows. His daddy’s an FBI agent, and that certainly would give me some pause in considering the motives of this young man.”
